Secured air reserve system

ABSTRACT

In combination with a selfcontained underwater breathing apparatus that has a 2-position valve on an air tank to allow the diver to convert to his reserve supply by flipping the valve to an alternate position, there is provided a shaft and tube means wherein the shaft is fixed to the valve actuator. The means is locked in a first position. By twisting the shaft, a lock is disengaged and the shaft is free to slide axially under the influence of a compression spring to actuate the valve to its alternate position.

United States Patent [191 Dornaus [111 3,826,156 July 30, I974 SECURED AIR RESERVE SYSTEM [76] Inventor: Thomas F. Dornaus, 12450 Lakewood B1vd., Apt. 316, Downey, Calif. 90242 [22] Filed: Mar. 19, 1973 {21] Appl. No.: 342,559

[52] US. Cl t. 74/527, 74/531 [51] lnt. Cl G05g 5/06 [58] Field of Search 74/527, 531,535, 536

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,061,334 10/1962 Everett et a1. 74/527 3,550,513 12/1970 Johnson .74/527X I if? m? Primary Examiner-Benjamin W. Wyche Assistant Examiner-Frank H McKenzie, Jr.

. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Dominick Nardelli 5 7 ABSTRACT In combination with a selfcontained underwater breathing apparatus that has a 2-p0sition valve on an air tank to allow the diver to convert to his reserve supply by flipping the valve to an alternate position, there is provided a shaft and tube means wherein the shaft is fixed to the valve actuator. The means is locked in a first position. By twisting the shaft, a lock is disengaged and the shaft is free to slide axially under the influence of a compression spring to actuate the valve to its alternate position.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures SECURED AIR RESERVE SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the field of supplying bottled air to divers, the air tanks are provided with two basic types of valves, i.e., the K" type (no reserve) and the I type (reserve supply feature). The .I valve reserve feature works on the principle of a spring-loaded valve plunger which is held open by the tank air pressure in excess of, for example, 300 PSI. While this valve is held open, the diver can breathe normally. When the air pressure in the tank falls below 300 PSI, the valve closes, shutting off the divers air supply. This means the diver has enough bottled air to reach the surface. Before he can use this air, he must activate the valve to release thereserve supply. He does this by reaching back and pulling down on the wire rod attached to the J type valve.

The exposed lever on the valve that is moved by the rod to release the reserve air is part of the tank valve which, in turn, is attached to the top of the air tank. Because of the location of this lever, it can be accidentally tripped. When this happens, the diver receives no warning until he is completely out of air. If this occurs at a depth of 25 feet or more, the diver could die attempting to reach the surface. As a safeguard, all tank valve regulator systems sold today have an easily read pressure gage attached. This gage is on the end of a length of hose which lies against the side of the tank. When the diver wishes to read his remaining air pressure, he reaches down and brings the gage into a position where it can be read. Unfortunately, during the excitement of a dive, a diver often forgets to check his air pressure regularly. The reserve system does have the advantage of providing emergency air but at times, as mentioned above, the reserve air could be lost.

Objects of the Invention:

An object of this invention is to provide a valve system on a divers air tank or bottle that is more dependable and reliable than in the prior art.

Another object is to provide a means that locks the valve in one position and .the means can only be unlocked on command of the diver.

Another object is to provide a control assembly wherein a shaft slides within a fixed body and the shaft is locked in the first position until released, and then is spring loaded to a second position.

Another object of this invention is to provide a control assembly having the features of the above objects, wherein the assembly is made simple, economical and durable.

These and other objects and features of advantage may become more apparent after perusing the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of my invention, together with the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an air tank or bottle incorporating my invention, with the standard reserve valve in its first position.

FIG. 2 is the same view of the bottle, but the valve is in the second position to use the air reserve supply.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section of the novel means on the air bottle, taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 4, with the means in its first position.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the novel means shown in partial section and the means is in its second position.

FIG. 5 is a view taken substantially on line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is substantially the same view as FIG. 5, with the means in the second position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in particular, item 10 represents the standard cylindrical air bottle or tank used in aqualungs for divers. The bottle has a standard J type reserve valve 11 at its upper end that allows air to pass through to a tube 12 and then to a mouthpiece, not shown. The bottle 10 is mounted onto a standard backpack 14 that is capable of being strapped to a divers back. The valve 11 has a lever 16 which, when it is in its up position, as shown in FIG. 1, allows air from the bottle 10 to exhaust through tube 12 as long as the air pressure is above, for example, 300 pounds per square inch. When the lever 16 is in its down position, as shown in FIG. 2, the rest of the air from the bottle 10 is exhausted through a tube 12. The purpose of this feature obviously is to provide sufficient air for the diver to surface. As mentioned above, in the prior art, lever 16, being exposed, could be tripped accidentally or under conditions of which the diver is unaware, thereby depleting the air reserve. As the diver moves about, the lever could be tripped or switched from one position to the other and back again many times without warning the diver.

One of my novel features is to fix the lever 16 to a rod 17 that extends along the bottle 10 to an actuator means 18 suitable strapped to the bottle 10 by a belt or strap 19 so that the means 18 does not move. The means 18 has a slidably disposed shaft 21 extending therethrough with one end thereof suitably coupled to the end of rod 17 by convenient means 22. The actuator means 18 securely holds the shaft 21 from moving from the position shown in FIG. 1 until actuated by the diver. Therefore the lever 16 cannot be tripped.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the preferred embodiment of means 18 is shown. The means 18 has a body 24, having substantially equal thickness in one dimension and in a dimension perpendicular thereto, having the lower end wider than the top end, which is in turn substantially cylindrical. The body 24 has a bore 25 (FIG. 4) extending lengthwise with an internal lip 26 formed at one end. Within the bore 25 is disposed the shaft 21 which has the upper portion made of a smaller diameter than the lower portion to provide an angular step thereon. The compression spring 27 (FIG. 3) is disposed around the shaft 21, as shown, to urge the shaft 21 downward.

To prevent the shaft 21 from moving down, the body 24 is provided with a transverse bore 28 that is made with three different diameter sizes as shown in FIG. 3. Within the bore 28 is disposed a slide 29, having an enlarged head at one end and a reduced portion at the other end. Around the slide 29 is disposed another compression spring 31 as shown, to urge the slide to the left, as shown in FIG. 3. The slide 29 has a transverse hole 32 through which the shaft 21 passes, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The shaft 21 has a cut-out 33 that is engaged by a lip 34 formed on slide 29 and extending into v the hole 32 to prevent the shaft 21 from sliding down. The spring 28 insures that the lip 34 remains in engagement with the recess or cut-out 33.

To release the shaft 21 from the lip 34, the diver reaches back and presses the head on slide 29 to the left, as viewed in FIG. 3. This allows the spring 27 to slide the shaft 21 to its position shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. As an alternate method, the diver could reach down and twist a knob 35 on the end of shaft 21 to place the smooth side of the shaft 21 adjacent to lip 34. In so doing, the shaft 29 is again moved to the left against the action of spring 28. One can see that an inadvertent tripping of lever 18 has been substantially eliminated.

Although the preferred embodiment of my invention has been described and disclosed, the invention is not to be considered limited to the embodiment disclosed as one skilled in the art, after studying the above teachings, could discover other modifications to accomplish the same result. Therefore, the invention is to be considered limited to the scope and breadth of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A control device comprising:

a body with a cylindrical bore therethrough;

a cylindrical shaft disposed within said bore for axial movement therein;

a spring means for biasing said shaftin one axial direction;

said body having another bore transversely disposed to said first mentioned bore;

a slide slidably disposed within said other bore and having a hole through which said shaft passes; and

said shaft having a cutout wherein said slide can engage said shaft and prevent it from moving axially.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein another spring means is disposed within said body to maintain said slide biased against said cut-out and said body is of a size in a region of said bore to completely shield said slide to prevent inadvertent movement thereof.

3. A control device comprising:

a body with a cylindrical bore therethrough;

a cylindrical shaft disposed within said bore for axial movement therein;

a spring means for biasing said shaft in one axial direction;

a releasable locking means for preventing said shaft from moving axially under the influence of said spring means and having a means responsive to the user thereof to release the locking means to allow the shaft to move axially;

said spring means comprising:

an inwardly disposed lip at one end of said bore;

an angular step formed on said shaft so that it has two different size diameters; and

a compression spring disposed around the smaller diameter of said shaft to urge against the said lip and said step.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said releasable locking means comprises:

said body with another bore transversely disposed to said first mentioned bore;

a slide slidably disposed within said bore having an hole through which said shaft passes;

said shaft having a cut-out wherein said slide can engaged said shaft and prevent it from moving axially.

a second angular step is formed on said slide; and a second compression spring is disposed around the smaller portion of said slide to urge against said second lip and said second step. 

1. A control device comprising: a body with a cylindrical bore therethrough; a cylindrical shaft disposed within said bore for axial movement therein; a spring means for biasing said shaft in one axial direction; said body having another bore transversely disposed to said first mentioned bore; a slide slidably disposed within said other bore and having a hole through which said shaft passes; and said shaft having a cutout wherein said slide can engage said shaft and prevent it from moving axially.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein another spring means is disposed within said body to maintain said slide biased against said cut-out and said body is of a size in a region of said bore to completely shield said slide to prevent inadvertent movement thereof.
 3. A control device comprising: a body with a cylindrical bore therethrough; a cylindrical shaft disposed within said bore for axial movement therein; a spring means for biasing said shaft in one axial direction; a releasable locking means for preventing said shaft from moving axially under the influence of said spring means and having a means responsive to the user thereof to release the locking means to allow the shaft to move axially; said spring means comprising: an inwardly disposed lip at one end of said bore; an angular step formed on said shaft so that it has two different size diameters; and a compression spring disposed around the smaller diameter of said shaft to urge against the said lip and said step.
 4. The device of claim 3 wherein said releasable locking means comprises: said body with another bore transversely disposed to said first mentioned bore; a slide slidably disposed within said bore having an hole through which said shaft passes; said shaft having a cut-out wherein said slide can engaged said shaft and prevent it from moving axially.
 5. The device of claim 4 wherein: another spring means is disposed within said body to maintain said slide biased into said cut-out; and said body is of a size in the region of said other bore to completely shield said slide to prevent inadvertent movement thereof.
 6. The device of claim 5 wherein: said other spring means includes a second inwardly disposed lip formed at one end of said other bore; a second angular step is formed on said slide; and a second compression spring is disposed around the smaller portion of said slide to urge against said second lip and said second step. 